LulzSec, a hacker group, claimed that it has breached Sony Pictures website and the meantime over 1 million accounts were
compromised. Sony just does not seem to be catching a break. The company had finally succeeded in getting its PlayStation Network on its wobbly feet and now it has one new problem to worry about. We are more concerned about the beating Sony's reputation has taken after all these high profile breaches than its monetary implications. PlayStation Network fiasco is already expected to cost some $171 million to the company.
The most damning statement that LulzSec posted was about security measure taken by Sony for protecting its users' data. The group claimed, "Sony stored over 1,000,000 passwords of its customers in plaintext, which means it’s just a matter of taking it.This is disgraceful and insecure; they were asking for it.” And you would think that Sony would have learnt its lessons from PSN failure. Sony's frigid response so far had been that it is "looking into" the issue.
LulzSec is the same group which claimed to hack PBS's website. The hacking group claimed that it was able to retrieve administrative information from Sony Picture's website and could have gathered all the information it had accessed. And if you are going to dismiss the claim as mere fear-mongering tactics, then you should believe AP which tested the information revealed and found that the claims are actually true.
However, Sony is not the only company which is facing these issues. Google also recently reported the hacking of Gmail accounts, though, the company blamed China for the breach. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. also fell to the tactics of hacking groups.
LulzSec claimed that it did not hack the site for personal glory but for "embarrassing" the multinational company. Well, we would just say that these hacking groups need to cut some slack to Sony, as the company has already suffered a massive blow to its reputation.